Global News - April 2008
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Asian vulture numbers dropping faster than the dodo
Wed 30 April 2008 14:00 UK — Asia,Birds
A team of scientists have warned that Asian vultures could become extinct within the next decade.
Reuters reported that the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society has published a report which warned that the population of oriental white-backed vultures has dropped 99.9 per cent since 1992.
The scientists said that a livestock drug called diclofenac is responsible for the decline and added that the birds are dying at a faster rate than dodos did.
Vibhu Prakash, a researcher at the Bombay Natural History Society, told the news agency that the veterinary form of the anti-inflammatory drug was banned in 2006, but added that some farmers use the human version on their animals.
In the report, the researchers estimated that as few as 1,000 of the slender-billed vultures could survive in India.
Another researcher, Andrew Cunningham, explained to the news agency that the birds are one of the primary means of disposing of animal carcasses in the country.
He explained that a recent rise in the numbers of disease-carrying rats and rabid stray dogs in the country was a "direct consequence of the decline of the vultures".
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